


satisfaction dragged it back

by scars and pipedreams (undermoonlitstars)



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Brief Cameos from Other Characters, Fluff, M/M, Neil and Andrew's pasts are implied but not mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:26:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29960226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/undermoonlitstars/pseuds/scars%20and%20pipedreams
Summary: Neil has a reputation for lying, instigating fights, and meddling with people’s lives. He’s also unfairly handsome, but you didn’t hear that from Andrew. Anyways because of this, Andrew goes out of his way to avoid him, which isn’t easy since they live at the same apartment complex on the same fucking floor, but boy does Andrew try. He’s mostly successful until Neil shows up at his door holding his cat.~~~Look, guys, there's not a lot of plot here. Basically they co-parent a cat, and eventually adopt another cat. Also, they were neighbours.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 17
Kudos: 201
Collections: AFTG Reverse Big Bang 2021





	satisfaction dragged it back

**Author's Note:**

> Wow. So. This is the first Andreil fic that I actually finished?! How'd that happen? This turned out much fluffier than I was expecting, but I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Anyway, HUGE thanks to Kay for the beta, and Kat for drawing such awesome art! 
> 
> If anyone cares, the title is a blend of the idioms 'Look what the cat dragged in' and 'curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back'.

Andrew shuffled into work that afternoon bleary-eyed as always, wondering how much it would induce him to drink later. It was Wednesday, and that meant a later shift that missed the lunchtime rush, thank God, but anything could happen. He ignored Dan’s greeting, nodded at Kevin, and forced himself to put on the hideous apron that was part of his uniform.

He liked his job at Eden’s. He’d worked there since his teens, started in the back rooms, and eventually upgraded to security. It was a job, and he didn’t hate it. The staff was familiar, as was the routine, and the only reason he’d ever looked for another job was money. He didn’t need fancy things and an abundance of useless stuff, but he did need a new apartment. Preferably one where the walls didn’t get so damp in winter that he caught coughs so violent they worried Nicky, and where the walls weren’t so thin he could practically narrate all of his neighbour's lives. A new apartment meant getting a second job, though, which is how he ended up at The Foxhole.

He did not like this job.

Serving coffee was one of the absolute last jobs he ever thought he’d willingly do, but it was the only place hiring that had flexible shift patterns. Despite the fact that he clearly wasn’t designed to work in any kind of customer-facing role, he sucked it up, put his years of practise at ignoring other people’s shit to use, and somehow managed to convince Dan not to fire him on the spot.

There were two problems with The Foxhole that persistently bothered Andrew. One of them being that the owner chose to use a colour scheme that included orange. An unforgivable offense, if you asked him. The other was the regulars. One regular in particular. His name, he’d learnt, was Neil Josten, and the man was infuriating.

He’d caught Andrew’s attention the first time he saw him. It wasn’t just that Josten was attractive – though, Andrew did notice his legs were so sculpted they made skinny jeans look obscene, as well as a striking face – it was the scars: they made him interesting. And interesting wasn’t something Andrew cared for. On one side of his face there was a patchwork of burns, and on the other, a crosshatch of lines that Andrew’s experience told him was done by a knife. All of it added up to a story Andrew told himself he didn’t want to know. But the worst part. The thing that no one told him before they hired him was that The Foxhole was apparently the house of Neil Josten worship. The others all loved him. Dan, Matt ( _especially_ Matt), Wymack, even Kevin, all raved about him. Fuck knew why. There was nothing special about him. Interesting, maybe, but not special.

Andrew hated him.

Unfortunately, the Wondrous Josten was nearly always at The Foxhole so he was pretty much guaranteed to worsen Andrew’s day.

A quick scan of the room showed Josten in his usual spot (in the corner by the window where he could easily see all the comings and goings), with a few other customers already seated and no line, so he slumped on the counter across from Kevin without bothering to say hi.

Kevin was an ex-athlete, forced into premature retirement due to an injury, and for some reason Andrew couldn’t fathom, the man spent his free time here as well as working here. Not that he minded very much: out of all the staff Andrew had to share shifts with, Kevin was the least objectionable. His entire personality made Andrew want to punch him in the face, but he didn’t force or expect Andrew to be what the others called ‘sociable,’ so he put up with him.

‘I made sure I have next Friday and Saturday, I couldn’t remember which day you said you’re moving in.’

Andrew liked that Kevin doesn’t bother with pointless social niceties either, but his question made Andrew squint up at him.

‘What nonsense are you talking about?’

‘You asked me to help you move,’ Kevin said it like he was explaining something simple to a particularly slow child.

‘No, I didn’t.’ He’d remember if he had. And he hadn’t.

‘You told your brother I was helping you move.’ He was starting to look annoyed, and he knew people’s inability to keep to plans was a Thing for Kevin, but Andrew had never personally been faced with it before. Of course he remembered that phone call with Aaron, but he hadn’t actually asked Kevin, he just didn’t realise that Kevin would take it as a request for assistance anyway. He sighed. Why was he getting the feeling he wouldn’t get out of this?

‘I only told him that so he wouldn’t come here and try to help me himself. I don’t need someone helping me put my things where I want them.’

Kevin scowled. ‘Well, I already switched my shifts. And if you do it yourself it’ll take forever. I said I’ll help you, so I’m helping.’ He crossed his arms, and Andrew was already dreading the thought of Kevin putting all of his focus on something that involved him. The man could be a slave driver when he wanted to be. Andrew bet he was always picked last for group projects in school.

‘Why?’ Why would he bother with this because of one off-hand thing Andrew said once and never mentioned again?

‘Because we’re friends.’

Were they? Andrew’s only friend was Renee, and he was okay with that. Nicky got on his case sometimes about being antisocial, but Nicky was Nicky and Andrew didn’t need that many friends. He hadn’t considered Kevin his friend until he said it, and he still had his doubts about it, but he found the idea wasn’t terrible. And it probably would be quicker.

‘Fine. And it’s Saturday, but I’m planning on starting early, so you better be awake in the AM.’ He gave Kevin his best glare in the hopes that he’d understand exactly what would befall him if he wasn’t. Kevin swore that he’d be there, and when Andrew rolled his eyes he caught Josten watching them.

He tried not to think about the curiosity on Josten’s face while he mindlessly made coffee. Whatever interest Josten had in his and Kevin’s conversation didn’t matter. Josten wasn’t entitled to everything he wanted to know just because the others were always fawning all over him. Andrew absolutely didn’t care why he was interested in the first place.

Josten was nosy as hell, he’d learnt that pretty quick. He was always sticking his nose in peoples’ business, always asking annoying questions. He didn’t know why the others let him get away with it. They may all have been best pals or whatever, but Renee was Andrew’s friend and he didn’t let her pry information out of him. Josten tried to convert Andrew to his cult when he’d first started. Mostly he stuck to the usual questions you might ask someone you’ve just met, but Andrew noticed his whole demeanour shift the moment he caught sight of Andrew’s armbands.

It was a confirmation on where he got his scars, even if Andrew hadn’t needed one. Neil knew he carried knives on him, and he lost his Bambi in the headlights aura immediately. His questions became more pointed, and when Andrew tried ignoring him again, he’d been more than happy to leave him alone.

It wasn’t the last time he saw him switch personalities at the drop of a hat, either. There were a couple of incidents where Josten morphed from a passive, indecisive wallflower into a shit-stirrer who had an awful habit of starting fights he couldn’t finish.

First there was the incident with Dan, and some asshole who recognised her from her former job as a stripper, and decided to make that known to everyone in the place. Josten had thrown the first punch, and then been thoroughly beaten for his trouble. Andrew thought it was funny, but it took Wymack to diffuse the situation and calm everyone else down.

Second was the time Kevin’s stalker had shown his face. Andrew still wasn’t sure what exactly the relationship was there – whether he was a stalker, or ex-boyfriend, or ex-friend, even, but Kevin was afraid of him, and that was enough for Andrew to intervene. It was just that Josten got there first. He then proceeded to verbally tear the man to shreds. Which Andrew enjoyed, but it alarmed him at how easily Josten had done it. He knew exactly where to stick the knife, and which wounds were the worst to rub salt in. And while none of it was aimed at Andrew, it still put him on his guard; he hadn’t known Josten could be that perceptive.

While the others all treated him like he was some innocent babe-in-the-woods, Andrew knew better. He was familiar with the worst ways of the world. Let other people walk around half-blind to reality; as long as he was aware of the way the world really worked, he could protect himself. And he knew for certain Josten was nothing like they thought he was. He existed in the same world as Andrew, and Renee, he just made an effort to hide it. Which meant Andrew tried to avoid him at all costs. Except it never really worked, because Josten was always here. It was like the man had nothing better to do.

Andrew was forced to abandon Kevin to relieve Dan while she took her break, and honestly, he hated this part of his day the most. It wasn’t because taking people’s horrible drink orders was mind-numbing – though it was, it really was, he sometimes worried about losing braincells – it was because as soon as the line died out, Josten was there.

Right on cue, he sidled up to the counter.

Andrew tried to take deep, calming breaths but it only made him resent the fact that he couldn’t smoke in here. ‘What do you want?’

Every time. Every time when Andrew was taking orders, he’d do something Josten-ish. By which he meant, he’d do something designed to be obnoxious, just for Andrew. He liked to mix it up a little – gotta stay unpredictable, after all.

Sometimes he’d spend ages staring at the board above Andrew’s head, as if he didn’t spend his free time thinking up the most horrific concoction he could out of spite. On those days he’d pretend to be racked with indecision while Andrew waited and could physically feel his blood pressure going up. Other times he’d order something ridiculously complex, or just plain annoying. And sometimes he just ordered the most disgusting things he could think of.

‘Soy latte with extra cream.’ He even smiled as he said it, as if he wasn’t the most annoying prick in the world, and leaned forward to rest his arms on the counter. Andrew bit the insides of his cheeks so he didn’t do something like snarl at the ~~man~~ demon in human skin.

Guess today was just plain annoying. Still, Andrew was required to make his stupid drink without pointing out how stupid it was, so he did it without another word. He slid the drink over the counter, not even looking at the idiot, and waited for him to return to his seat.

‘What were you and Kevin talking about?’

Andrew’s head shot up to glare at him. ‘Why is that any of your business?’ He should have known he wanted something when he toned down his order.

Josten shrugged, ‘I just want to know.’ He said it casually, but as Andrew looked at him again he saw it was a very careful kind of casual.

He couldn’t figure out why this mattered to Josten so he snapped at him, ‘Well, I don’t want to tell you.’ He turned and marched back over to Kevin, who was watching it all with keen green eyes.

He didn’t ask about it, though, so Andrew mentally agreed that Kevin was right about them being friends after all.

.

It was obscenely early. Andrew tried to repress his irritation at his past self for making these plans as he started his second cup of coffee. He’d been up since four thirty, had met Kevin somewhere between then and five, and started the laborious endeavour of moving. He’d foolishly thought it would be as easy as it was when he was shunted from home to home when he was a child. When he owned practically nothing. That should have been his first clue this would be a lot more work. It was a good thing he’d taken the whole weekend off from Eden’s.

He followed Kevin through the doorway, trying to see where he was going around the last box he carried. At least Kevin was sharing this misery. As soon as he got inside, he wanted nothing more than to collapse on the sofa, but that wasn’t an option because the moving truck hadn’t arrived yet, so while Kevin settled for sitting on a stack of boxes, Andrew perched himself on his new kitchen counter. It was definitely not a good time to be moving furniture around, but Andrew wanted this done, and he didn’t care if his new neighbours hated him.

They could deal. Hopefully better than Andrew did with Kevin when the moving truck finally arrived. It was like the man had been possessed by some kind of drill sergeant.

Andrew had specifically looked for a building where sound wouldn’t travel as easily as his old one, but moving furniture would always be a loud process, and it was still early in the morning.

He saw one woman on his floor when she was clearly leaving for the school run, but she looked as surly and sleep deprived as Andrew, so neither offered any greetings, merely nodded in commiseration. He did actually meet one of his upstairs neighbours, who introduced herself as Robin, and actually offered to help. He declined – he wasn’t sure she could stand up to Kevin’s reign of terror, but he did make a mental note to be civil if he saw her about. His downstairs neighbour must have woken up at some point, because they decided that banging on the ceiling and adding to the noise would make things better. Andrew couldn’t help but laugh when Kevin shrieked and stomped right back.

When they finally did get to collapse on the sofa, Andrew could admit to himself that he was grateful for Kevin’s help.

.

Andrew had barely gotten to sleep when someone knocking on his door woke him up. The daylight seared into his retinas and filled him with violent hatred for whoever it was. He hated everything as he hauled himself out from under his duvet. King glared at him as he stomped past her to get to the door and he muttered curses at whoever was still persisting on knocking at – he checked his phone – 6am. Ugh. What did he do to deserve this?

He nearly pulled the door off its hinges, he swung it open so hard, but he didn’t care. That was a problem for when he was awake and conscious. He blinked at the sight that met him on the other side of the door.

He saw Neil Josten standing there. That couldn’t be right. He saw Neil Josten open his mouth and start speaking, but the sound didn’t register in his ears. What was Josten doing at Andrew’s apartment? He glared at him. Aside from the fact that you just really shouldn’t be banging on people’s doors at 6 in the morning, Josten was a general affront to Andrew’s existence at work; one that shouldn’t be following him home. What was he doing here? If Andrew were awake, he might think that actually paying attention to what Josten was saying would let him understand that. But he wasn’t awake. And Josten had no reason to be standing at Andrew’s door at this time of morning. He especially had no reason to be smiling like that.

Andrew slammed the door shut on Josten’s face and locked it again without saying a word. He rubbed his eyes trying to clear the sight of Josten from them as he shuffled back to his bed. He doesn’t hear any more knocking, so it can’t have been important. If it happened at all.

When he woke – at the proper time – he had a blurry memory of the incident, but no way of telling if it really happened or was some kind of waking dream.

.

Andrew had been convinced that Josten appearing on his doorstep was some kind of hallucination borne out of lack of sleep. Or possibly he’d just dreamt answering his door to find the ginger annoyance in the doorway like some kind of crossroads demon. Either way, he forgot about the whole thing until he came back from the gym one day and almost ran into him on the stairs. He resisted the urge to duck out of sight – he could be a grown up, and the man wasn’t even looking in his direction. He dragged his eyes away from Josten, and saw the girl watching him with curiosity. Robin, he recalls, he’d seen her here collecting mail a few times but never spoken to her since the first day.

She nodded her head in Josten’s direction, ‘He’s kind of weird, by most people’s standards. But I think he’s alright. He just takes some getting used to.’

Andrew raised an eyebrow. ‘Is that so?’ She nodded, but he couldn’t shake his scepticism. He resolved right then to just avoid him.

He didn’t usually avoid people – they were nearly always the ones who tried to avoid him – but how hard could it be? It was definitely necessary: Neil Josten was exactly the sort of trouble Andrew didn’t need in his life right now. Or ever. But, again, the man was everywhere. Andrew couldn’t seem to escape him, and no matter how hard he tried to stop it from happening, Neil Josten was a Presence in his life. He was doing well with the avoidance of all things Josten when he only saw him at work. But now, he’d really have to make an effort.

.

His efforts proved futile annoyingly quickly.

Moving had agitated King a little, so she'd taken to chewing on any wire or cord or string that she could get her teeth around. His laptop charger had just been salvageable, with copious amounts of tape, the laces on one of his boots now needed replacing, and so did his headphones. He only told her off for that one a little – moving was stressful and he'd been meaning to upgrade to wireless anyway. All it meant was he was forced to play his music that much louder to drown out his thoughts like he was some kind of teenager. It wasn’t like it was the middle of the night: it was the middle of the day. And he really should have been sleeping still if he didn't want his shift to kill him tonight, but nightmares had murdered that dream.

He jumped when the banging on his door started, but there was no one to witness that except King, so he’d forever deny it happened. Whoever it was stopped using their fists and started kicking at the door instead, and he knew in his soul it was Josten. He furiously stubbed out his cigarette on the way to the door, but then he remembered that smoking helped calm him down, so he lit another one. He didn’t open it straight away – first he slammed his hand against it right at the height where Josten’s face would be, and snickered at the muffled curse he heard in response.

He opened the door as wide as it would go, knowing that to Josten, the music just got louder. He leant against the door frame as though he had all the time and patience in the world for Josten and plastered a huge fake smile on his face. He probably looked possessed.

‘May I help you?’

Josten’s eyes bugged out and Andrew watched his mouth drop open in disbelief. Which looked fish-like, and not at all attractive. He fixed his gaze on a spot just past Josten’s ear to try and stop the thoughts that tried to flood his brain with him looking like that.

It helped when Josten snapped out of it and started talking.

‘Uh, yeah. You can help everyone on this floor by getting some decent taste in music, what the hell is this crap?’ He waved his hand towards Andrew’s apartment, and Andrew lazily turned his head to follow the motion, before turning back to blink at the idiot on his doorstep.

‘Is that all?’

‘No it’s not all, turn it down.’

Josten’s voice rose in volume a little as he spoke, but he never really shouted. Andrew had noticed that when Josten really got angry, his voice went almost glacial. It almost made him wonder what was up with him now, if he wasn’t angry?

He made sure to blow smoke in Josten’s face before he answered him. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise I was sharing a floor with a ninety-year-old busybody.’

‘I am not a busybody.’ His indignation made Andrew want to keep winding him up. He couldn’t though, that would go against his avoidance policy.

‘Then get the hell off my doorstep.’ He didn’t wait for a reaction before slamming the door in his face.

For some reason the satisfaction of that only lasted until he turned around. He stubbed out his second cigarette in as many minutes, but didn't turn the music down.

.

Andrew didn’t have a shift at The Foxhole the next day, so he didn’t expect to see Josten again any time soon. He felt like he should have expected him to do something to throw Andrew off.

Nicky's inability to consistently remember that time zones existed usually fit well with Andrew's non-existent sleep schedule, if not always with his work schedule. That was becoming increasingly obvious as his and Erik's wedding drew nearer, and Nicky reached new levels of panic.

It took Andrew a while to figure out why Nicky kept calling _him_ , of all people, since he barely responded to the things Nicky said unless they were completely stupid. Sometimes he only answered these calls because Nicky's chatter made for better background noise than his own thoughts, but if Andrew's disinterest could calm him down, then he guessed it was a good thing for both of them.

Today, the problem was seating arrangements. The numbers were slightly uneven, because Nicky had a significantly smaller number of friends and family than Erik, and apparently one of Nicky's friends didn't get on with Erik's sister and now he'd have to move her. Or something. Andrew thought Nicky was perfectly capable of resolving this without his input, but maybe he just needed to vent.

Andrew only listened with one ear; he was waving a cat toy around for King to chase, and he couldn't help laughing at her increasingly acrobatic attempts to catch it. He flicked it up and moved it just as she was about to reach it, trying to see if he could get her to do a somersault again.

She did, but ended up clawing his legs when she landed on them, and Nicky gave a little cheer, since it put her in view of the laptop.

‘Have you found someone to leave her with when you come here for the wedding?’

‘Yeah, Renee said she’d take her.’ Andrew didn’t like to think about the wedding. Thinking about the wedding would mean thinking about the long-ass flight he’d have to take to _get_ to the wedding.

‘Are you sure you don’t want to bring anyone?’ Nicky looked at him with his concerned parent face on, and Andrew barely refrained from sighing. He’d asked this every call since the invitations went out.

‘Yes, Nicky.’

Nicky’s worry didn’t disappear, and Andrew briefly entertained the idea of taking someone, just to see Nicky’s reaction. He told himself he wasn’t picturing Josten and choked the idea to death before it could take root.

He could feel Nicky’s agitation winding down, so he made the usual goodbyes and promises to call if anything happened before heading to bed.

He curled up with King beside him, still fighting with the idea of taking Josten to Nicky’s wedding. He couldn’t take Josten on a thirteen hour flight: he’d kill the man.

.

The next day at The Foxhole, he was confronted by an irate Josten. The man spat out his obnoxious order and proceeded to glare at Andrew. 'What is wrong with you?' He asked it like Andrew should have known what he was talking about. He didn’t, and maybe Josten's anger was effective on everyone else, since they were all watching them warily, but all Andrew felt was amused. Josten wasn't frightening.

‘Is this a thing with you? Are you the obnoxious noisy neighbour?’

Oh. At his old apartment building, everyone was so used to hearing everything all the time, the only thing they hadn't learnt to sleep through was the fire alarm. So he'd never gotten complaints before. ‘Are you still upset about the music?’ He deliberately used his best Pacifying Karen voice, a trick he hadn’t learnt until he started working here, and he viciously hoped Josten recognised it.

‘I’m not upset. I am asking if this is part of a pattern.’ He inhaled loudly through his nose and gripped the edge of the counter. ‘You moved in at ass o’clock in the morning, you play loud music, and apparently now you make phone calls in the middle of the night. So.’ He cut himself off, and Andrew forced himself to look away from his hands.

True, in an otherwise silent building, one conversation would seem loud. But not loud enough to wake people up. There was no way Josten heard that unless he was already awake. He wanted to fight, to argue with Josten until he stopped feeling this draw towards him, but people were starting to look at them. He wanted to stop seeing after images of Josten’s hands. ‘Time zones exist, Josten. And no, this doesn’t always happen, so you can stop pestering me.’

He did, for now, turning on his heels with a nod. Josten spent the rest of Andrew’s shift very pointedly not looking at him. Andrew spent it thinking about perfectly round scars.

.

Moving sapped all his motivation to do anything else productive, which was how he ended up here. Here being completely out of clean clothes and meeting Aaron in a few hours. He never ran if he could help it, but he wasn’t moving slowly either as he gathered all his laundry and rushed down to the laundry room to crash through the door.

It hit the wall with a violent smack, and he didn’t think to dodge the rebound because all the machines were in use. He cursed under his breath, striding over to the nearest machine and pulling all the half washed clothes out, letting them hit the side with a satisfying splat. He started the machine on the quickest wash he could get away with, slammed the door shut and headed back upstairs. He wasn’t going out in pyjamas, but he also wasn’t cancelling – he rarely got a chance to see Aaron without Katelyn these days, and he was getting desperate for company that wasn’t Kevin.

.

There was something different when Andrew walked into work the next day. Kevin was there, waiting at the counter as usual, Dan was in, of course, with Matt loitering around her like a puppy, but there was something strained about her cheeriness today. Matt’s seemed genuine, right up until the moment Josten turned his glacial blue glare on him, and he wilted like the houseplants Nicky had been unable to keep alive. Josten wasn’t content sulking quietly and after noticing Andrew was there, struck up a fierce but whispered argument with Dan.

Andrew turned to Kevin, eyebrows raised in question, and he shook his head before answering. ‘You don’t want to know.’

Andrew looked back over and saw Dan now standing with her hands on her hips and a deeply unimpressed frown on her face. Whatever was happening, it appeared to have used up her patience with Josten. Huh. Andrew didn’t think that was even possible. Matt made a lot of sympathetic faces at the irate redhead, but it looked like he was taking Dan’s side. He didn’t know how Josten expected anything different.

‘I think I actually do for once.’ He managed to take his eyes off that disturbance and look back at Kevin, who rolled his eyes.

‘Dan’s trying to set Neil up with someone.’ Andrew’s eyes widened, and his head whipped back over to where Josten was still looking furious with Dan. ‘She somehow got it into her head that it’d go a lot easier if she sprung it on him last minute.’

Andrew stared at him like an idiot. Was it horror sinking through his gut like a lead weight? Second hand mortification? He shuddered. He couldn’t believe he wanted to side with Josten. Well meaning interferers were still interfering. Was it so much to just expect people to mind their business?

Andrew’s eyes tracked Josten as he slunk back over to his table and sulked. Was he staying? Why would he do that when he so clearly didn’t want to? Andrew noticed Kevin looking vaguely amused, Matt puppy eyed and hopeful while Dan continued to glare at Josten. Dan’s glare seemed to have some effect, keeping him pinned to his seat – that was a trick, Josten didn’t let himself be held back by other people’s wants, from what Andrew had seen.

He couldn’t imagine Dan liked this person very much, if she was setting them up with Josten. And The Foxhole was definitely not a place Andrew would pick for a date. Not that he dated really, but whatever. At least he was promised some entertainment for the afternoon.

.

He took it back. This wasn’t entertainment, this was… Something else.

He couldn't look away from the disaster playing out in front of him. Honestly, he was sort of still reeling from the fact that Dan didn't trust Josten on a date unsupervised. He couldn't even find that funny. It was just... sad. Besides, it wasn't his place to tell Dan that she wasn't actually Josten's mother. So,, he must endure the farce he was witnessing.

He'd known this wouldn't go well the second the woman sat down. For one, she looked pleased to be there, even though it was only a coffee date and Josten was clearly sulking. For another,, she didn't stop talking and she clearly had a gift for picking every topic that Josten wasn't interested in, if his face was anything to go by. She asked a few questions here and there, but completely ignored Josten's monosyllabic answers.

Andrew barely spoke to Kevin, who at least tried to ignore them, but his focus kept getting drawn in. He looked over to where Dan and Matt were also pretending not to watch, amazed that they thought this was a good idea.

Josten was in The Foxhole a lot, so it was obvious he liked it here, but Andrew hadn't noticed how relaxed he usually was until this. His spine was rigid, his hands were gripping the underside of the table, and judging from the way his eyes kept going to the door, Dan's glare and Matt's puppy eyes were the only things keeping him in his seat.

The background noise of the other customers prevented Andrew from hearing most of what was said, and he was torn between being glad or annoyed: he didn't like that he was so interested, but if anything would make him lose interest, it would be hearing Josten’s complete inability to flirt.

He was just going to have to put up with it. He didn't know who he felt more sorry for – Josten or the girl. On one hand, the girl had been set up with Josten, on the other, she was everything Andrew hated in people.

He turned to Kevin. 'Does this happen a lot?'

Kevin looked up from his phone. 'What? Neil being a disaster or the set up?'

'The set up.' Of course he knew Josten was a disaster.

Kevin shrugged. 'Not really. Neil doesn't really date. Dan thinks he's missing out, but he's pretty sure he doesn't want to date anybody.'

'So she thought an ambush was a good idea?'

Kevin glanced to where Neil and the girl were sitting, then back to Dan and Matt before shrugging again.

Andrew scowled. He'd been hoping for more information.

Someone lifted their cup for a refill, and Andrew used the excuse to try and hear what Josten and the girl were saying. Because he found Josten's misery amusing. Not because he cared or anything.

'I could give you my number.' The girl sounded stupidly hopeful, given what Andrew just witnessed. Even her voice was annoying. Andrew loitered, cleaning cups and plates from an empty table so he could keep listening.

'Why? I'm not going to call you.'

Andrew tried not to smirk as he went back to the counter. Josten really was the worst.

He couldn't have been that successful, because he got a raised eyebrow from Kevin and Dan.

Whatever. They could judge him all they wanted.

He ignored everything that wasn’t happening directly in front of him for the rest of his shift.

When he got home, he found Josten waiting in the lobby, looking like he’d had a longer day than Andrew.

He watched Josten’s hands again, the way they gripped the handrail to heave himself from the floor. When he finally looked at his face, Josten was already looking back at him.

‘Did you know?’

‘Know what?’

They started a slow trek up the stairs.

‘That today would be spectacularly shitty, so you decided to make yesterday worse as well.’

Well, that made absolutely no sense. Andrew looked at him questioningly, and watched him raise his other hand to drag through his hair.

‘The laundry. I know it was you, no one else in this building would be that dickish.’

Crap. He’d forgotten about that. ‘I didn’t know that was yours. Was sort of in a rush.’

Josten let out a breathless little huff that might have been a laugh. ‘Right.’ He didn’t sound angry, just very, very sad, and he left Andrew at his door with an even sadder half-smile that lingered in Andrew’s brain until the next morning.

.

Andrew had just hung up on a sulky Aaron when there was knocking on the door. He swung his head round to it, and debated just ignoring it. Who would it be, anyway? Kevin and Renee both knew to text first, Aaron was out of state, and Nicky was out of the country. Other people might call it sad, but Andrew didn’t want any more visitors than that.

The knocking persisted, though really, at this point, it was just someone banging on the door so hard, it rattled in its frame. He rolled his eyes as he pushed himself off the couch. This was too much effort to expend on an evening he’d planned to do nothing.

He swung the door open and glared at the person on the other side. The moment he registered who it was, he flattened his face so it wasn’t giving anything away – better not give Josten the satisfaction of thinking he could emote.

Besides, he didn’t like anyone catching him off guard. And while he was aware that Josten lived on his floor, and they sometimes ran into each other, coming to his door without provocation was different.

He stared at the man, absently taking in uncombed hair, hideous orange shirt, tatty sweatpants and – a cat? Andrew’s cat. Andrew frowned at King where she was purring contentedly in Josten’s arms.

How dare she. That traitor.

He focused his glare back on the redhead. ‘Is this a hostage situation? Do you want a ransom? Because if that’s the case, you can keep her.’ Andrew folded his arms and ignored King’s huge round eyes on his face. Traitors weren’t worth a second look. Josten, on the other hand, was looking unconsciously soft right now.

‘What? No.’ Josten looked appalled for a second before he realised Andrew wasn’t serious. He rolled his eyes, which only served to remind Andrew how very blue they were. He noticed Josten seemed to be gearing up to something, so he leant against the door frame to wait him out. He wasn’t going to let him in.

Josten made no move to relinquish the cat, Andrew made no move to take her back, and King made absolutely no move at all. Well, now he knew where her loyalties lay she’d see if she ever got treats again.

‘Look. The cat keeps breaking into my apartment.’ Josten lifted the cat toward Andrew a little, as if he might somehow have missed it there. ‘I’ve asked everyone else on this floor, and they say it’s not theirs. So. Is it yours?’

Andrew imagined it for a second, Josten – who, from what Andrew has seen, was rude, blunt and kind of a snob – going from door to door, just to put this cat back where it belonged. He couldn’t: it didn’t really mesh with what Andrew knew of him, yet here he was. Andrew couldn’t wrap his brain around it. He considered saying no, letting the traitor live with Josten if she liked him so much. But one look from Josten’s face to King’s, and he knew he was going to keep the little wretch.

Sighing, he stood up straight and resigned himself to this conversation. ‘Yeah, she’s mine.’ He held out his arms for the cat, which Josten handed over, albeit reluctantly. He noticed Josten was careful not to touch any part of Andrew, and felt his annoyance at the man lessen a little. Just a little.

King’s claws dug into his arms before she settled, reminding him of this ridiculous situation that was happening. Josten wasn’t going away. Andrew blinked up at him, got nothing but a blank stare in response, and sighed.

‘Well?’ Andrew raised an eyebrow at Josten’s confusion – really, if anyone here should be confused, it was Andrew.

‘Well, what?’

Andrew pointedly did not enjoy the way Josten’s nose scrunched up. ‘Well, why are you still here? You gave the cat back, didn’t you? Your quest’s fulfilled, so goodnight.’ If he didn’t have his arms full of cat, he’d have made shooing motions. He could also have just stepped back into his apartment and shut the door in Josten’s face, but he couldn’t make himself yet. Josten’s face, as it happened, was frowning at him, and Andrew gripped King tighter to stop the desire to trace his mouth where it downturned at the corners.

‘Wha – I just – Ugh. Forget it.’ He scowled and stomped away down the hall, and Andrew kept watching until he heard a door slam shut.

.

Josten was no longer ignorable. It had only been a week since he’d shown up on his doorstep with King, but he’d been back several times already. And yes, he would tolerate Josten’s presence for short periods of time if it meant keeping his cat, but Josten kept trying to fill those minutes with inane babble and questions about King, and Andrew didn’t know what to do with that.

At least before, Josten had just just been a presence in his life, in his orbit, but unconnected. Now it was tangible. They had a link, a connection.

It was all King’s fault.

Now that she’d been discovered, Andrew thought she might stop sneaking off to Josten’s, or attempt not to get caught again, but his cat did neither of those things. At the very least, she ought to have been ashamed of herself. Andrew would be proud of the amount of fucks she didn’t give if it weren’t so fucking annoying.

Andrew still wasn’t quite sure how she was doing it. It wasn’t like she could use the front door.

Usually when she went out, it was only to the fire escape. Was that how she did it? Josten did live on the same floor. While Andrew wouldn’t be leaping over the railings ~~ever~~ anytime soon, there was nothing so arbitrary like a fear of heights stopping a determined cat.

The sneaking out wasn’t the annoying part – she was an independent cat and he didn’t want to stifle her – no, the annoying part was that Josten used it as an excuse to talk to him. It was almost as if Josten thought they were friends now.

But he couldn’t make Josten leave him alone without breaking his avoidance tactics, so the only option left was trying to convince King how very Not Good Josten was. Which meant instead of just letting her curl up in his lap and purr her way through their semi-regular movie night, he spent the entire time ignoring the film and explaining about all the evils of Josten he’d witnessed.

‘We hate him, King, We. Hate. Him.’ He smushed her face up close to his while looking her directly in the eye trying to impart the importance of this statement.

It clearly didn’t work, though, because the moment he let go of her face, she leapt off his legs and trotted to the kitchen, not once looking back. Andrew slumped into the couch, and if there was a pout marring his face, then it was fine, because not even his cat was looking at him.

.

King seemed to lose all shame after their little talk about Josten, since he was returning her more often than not these days. Every time he did, he told Andrew about his day, and after another week, he’d gotten used to it. He was no longer irritated by Josten babble: he was immune.

Just as well, really, because today had been so much effort. He’d worked the late (or early, depending on your perspective) shift at Eden’s, then insomnia had shown up out of the blue like a much loathed relative, before he had to endure a shift at The Foxhole. And it was one of those rare days when Josten didn’t show up at all, so when he saw him sitting in the hallway petting the little betrayer, he didn’t move to take her. He just left the door open behind him, letting Josten walk himself in, exhaustion dimming his awareness til he heard the door slam shut.

He put some water on to make chamomile tea. It didn’t actually help him sleep, but Renee kept buying it for him, so he kept using it. Josten watched him in silence until King jumped to the floor and knocked him out of it.

‘This is new.’ He still looked dazed, as if he couldn’t believe it was happening, but his eyes followed Andrew as he moved around his kitchen.

Andrew didn’t have the energy to do anything more than shrug. Josten, for once, had nothing to say, and if Andrew were less tired, he’d enjoy that more.

He put fresh food and water down for King, and when he straightened up, Josten was hovering over his shoulder.

‘Huh.’

Andrew knew better than to ask.

‘What.’

Apparently his self control was born and reborn in sleep.

‘Nothing. It’s just,’ he cut himself off, looking guilty, and Andrew didn’t care about anything Josten had to say. ‘You feed her store brand food?’

Andrew’s back straightened and he narrowed his eyes. ‘Why is that any of your business?’

Josten looked away, and Andrew crossed his arms, already knowing what the answer was. Of fucking course.

‘You’ve been feeding her.’

Josten nodded, because of course he was the type of idiot who would feed any stray that turned up at his door. With the fancy food, if his judgmental tone was anything to go by. Andrew’s ire was fuelled all over again, and he began to regret inviting him in, until Josten fidgeted, one foot to the other, one eye on the door, and it burned out as quickly as it sparked.

‘No wonder she keeps going back.’ He’d learnt that King would be fussy whatever brand of food he bought, so he’d decided not to bankrupt himself on cat food. Not that it mattered, because King was his cat, dammit, this was not a competition. He walked back to where the water had just boiled, and rattled the box of teabags in Josten’s direction. ‘Do you want one?’

Josten blinked, surprised. ‘Sure.’

A tiny, almost unnoticeable knot of tension eased inside Andrew, and he didn't understand why. He was so tired, he was liable to pass out where he soon,. He should not have been inviting people in and offering them tea, especially not pretty annoyances, even if they only lived down the hall. But an annoying voice in the back of his head told him he’d have been in a worse mood if Josten left.

When the tea was done, they migrated to Andrew’s couch, where King was already curled up in one corner. Josten scooped her up and sat down in the same spot, King easily settled in his lap, and Andrew wondered again exactly how often his cat had been staying with his neighbour. ‘Sorry it’s not an overly caffeinated cup of sugar water,’ he said, partially for lack of other thoughts, and partially because. Well. He knew that Josten ordered those drinks just to mess with him, but if he could just get him to admit it, Andrew would win.

Josten’s eyes widened in faux innocence, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly, ‘This is fine.’ His voice was equally careful, and Andrew saw amusement behind his eyes before he turned away to examine the room.

Andrew watched the man taking in his living room, pictures, knick knacks, bookshelves, stray things here and there that told pieces of Andrew’s life, except it was like he couldn’t look away from any of it. ‘It’s not that interesting, Josten.’

‘I think it is.’ His head swivelled round so he could meet Andrew’s gaze, and he looked so damned sincere Andrew couldn’t stand to look at him.

‘Shut up, Josten.’ He gulped down half his tea for something to do, and burnt all the feeling out of his mouth. It didn’t stop his heart racing at all.

‘I do have a first name, you know.’

‘Yes.’

Josten rolled his eyes, turning back to look at the pictures, but not before Andrew caught sight of a dimple appearing on one cheek. He wanted to poke it.

He was too tired to be around people right now. What the hell was he doing?

‘Is that Stuttgart?’

He followed Josten’s gaze to the picture from the summer Nicky moved back to Germany. He’d somehow convinced him and Aaron to go with him. The memory alone made his stomach churn – he was dreading having to fly out for the wedding. He nodded absently, wondering how Josten had recognised it so easily. He wanted to ask. He also wanted to ask his brain why it cared. He wondered if Josten could tell it wasn’t him in the picture with Nicky, then shook his head. That was stupid. From the look on his face, Josten was only just figuring out –

‘You’re a twin.’

‘Yeah.’ He didn’t know what else to say to that. He didn’t think it was interesting, didn’t know how to keep Josten interested. Josten seemed to catch on to Andrew’s aversion to this topic, though, and Andrew cursed himself, because avoiding Josten allowed him to forget just how sharp those eyes could be.

‘Did you like it there?’

He shrugged again. ‘It’s a place.’ Nicky was happy, though. He and Aaron hadn’t realised how unhappy Nicky was until they had the real thing right in front of them.

He waited for the questions about Aaron, or dumb shit about twins, but they didn't come; Josten just looked at him, like he could read any answer he wanted on his face. He’d admit, it surprised him. He’d always thought of Josten as nosy, but here he was, letting Andrew direct their conversation. Which was terrible, because Andrew was too tired to function right now, and he was being rude, but he didn’t want to tell Josten to leave.

It was out of his hands soon enough, because Josten promptly downed his drink and made his excuses. He gave a stupidly baby-voiced goodbye to King, and saw himself out, leaving Andrew to wonder if he’d noticed his exhaustion or if he just regretted coming in at all.

The idea tormented him, to the point he was relieved to see him when he got to the Foxhole.

Andrew started to think maybe the feeling was mutual, because when he walked in, Josten moved from his regular table to Kevin’s usual spot by the counter. It put Andrew at ease, and when Dan did a double take at the sight, something warm and satisfied bloomed in Andrew’s chest.

‘I’ll have chai tea latte with all of the syrups.’

Andrew couldn’t help it, he let his face show his revulsion.

Josten just laughed like this is what he’d been after all along, and Andrew wanted to be irritated, he should have _known_ , but there was that dimple again and he couldn’t.

Ugh.

‘Don’t make me make that drink, Josten.’

‘One last time. I promise.’

‘You shouldn't make promises you won’t keep.’

Josten snorted, ‘I’ll keep this one. I have to throw out more than half those drinks.’

Of course he did. They were vile. Still, Andrew made his stupid drink. He should have forced him to drink it as punishment.

He set it down between them, like some kind of peace offering, before other people called him away.

When he finally returned, Josten was smiling at him.

‘What do you want?’ The question slipped out before Andrew could filter it, but voicing it made the desire to know more present. ‘Why do you keep doing this? You don’t have to keep talking to me. You don’t have to keep bringing King back, she could do it on her own.’

Josten shrugged. ‘I don’t do it because I want something from you. I just think you’re interesting.’

Andrew didn’t gasp – he inhaled sharply. Interesting. There was that word again, except this time it wasn’t Andrew thinking it about Josten. He tried to find something else to look at, something that wasn’t Josten’s face and Josten’s eyes, so wide and blue and so fucking earnest.

‘Wait. There is one thing I’d like.’

Andrew raised one eyebrow, because he didn’t trust himself not to say something stupid when Josten was looking at him like that, and waited.

‘I wish you’d call me Neil.’

Oh. That. Huh. He could do that. Sure. Just as soon as he remembered how to use words at all.

He saw Kevin waving at him over by the register, and he couldn’t hear what he was saying over the pounding in his ears, but he took the chance to get away from Josten – Neil – just so he could breathe.

.

The next couple of times Neil found King in his apartment, Andrew made sure to invite him in again. Sometimes they’d trade off picking things to watch, and Andrew sometimes hated Neil’s choices, but always, always, they traded questions. Well, answers, really, truths.

But Andrew enjoyed it, a lot more than he liked admitting, even to himself, so he was disappointed when it didn’t happen.

Andrew had to cover someone’s shift at Eden’s one night and it threw everything off track. He was on his way out when he found Neil in the hall, King in his arms, purring away at Andrew like she wasn’t a fluffy Judas. He looked surprised to see him.

‘You’re going out.’ He said it like a statement, not a question, so Andrew didn’t answer. Neil’s face fell for a second, before it smoothed out, quick enough that Andrew wondered if it happened at all. His eyes traced over Andrew’s clothes, as if to figure out where he’s going, before they snapped back to meet Andrew’s. Andrew smirked, stepped around Neil’s legs and tapped two fingers to his temple in some weird kind of salute. As soon as he was safely out of sight in the elevator he cursed himself. Why did he do that? He never saluted anyone before in his life, why the hell did Josten make him so awkward?

.

Neil was knocking at the door.

He knew it was Neil now, because he recognised the knock. Sometimes he disgusted himself. He should’ve known better than to pay this much attention to someone.

He swung the door open knowing what he'd see there, and wondered when exactly he'd gotten so used to seeing Neil and King together. They'd somehow become NeilandKing in his mind, which shouldn't have been allowed, really, because King was _his_ cat. He shook off the thought as they walked straight past him and made themselves comfortable.

He shut the door behind them, wondering when that became normal, too. 'Why do you even bother knocking when you always know I'm home, you could just let her in yourself.'

'But then you wouldn't have to talk to me, you'd just carry on what you're doing and I’d feel awkward just standing there.'

Andrew didn't know what to say to that. He just blinked at him, trying to breathe through whatever annoying thing his chest was doing. It wasn’t like he'd ever been able to completely ignore Neil when he was in the same room. But the idea that Neil wanted his attention didn't make breathing any easier.

He followed Neil into the kitchen, where he was already rifling through the tin Andrew kept King's treats in. He waved them under Andrew's nose, 'You don't mind, do you? I ran out of mine.'

Andrew shook his head, trying not to read too much into the way Neil had taken over the care of his cat, and reminded himself that they didn't actually like each other before King forced them to keep company.

King was on the coffee table pawing at his computer screen, trying to lick Aaron's face. Andrew watched Neil's face to see what he made of the spectacle, but Josten barely hesitated before drawing her attention away.

Andrew wiped at his screen with his sleeve, and ignored Aaron's protest.

'Who's that?' He inclined his head in Neil's direction, as if there could be anyone else he was talking about.

'No one.'

Aaron glared at him, which Andrew always found funny, because Aaron’s glares were pretty ineffectual, but this time it actually worked. He sank back into the couch, tucking one leg underneath him, and checked on Neil. He was still playing with King in the kitchen, giving an illusion of semi-privacy, though Andrew didn't like the idea of Aaron hearing Neil baby-talk to Andrew's cat.

'Just Neil. He lives down the hall.'

He tried to project _it doesn't matter, it's not important, change the subject_ into Aaron's brain via twin telepathy, but he guessed being separated at birth meant they didn't get that because Aaron was angling his head to try and watch Neil, apparently oblivious to the fact that it wouldn't work unless Andrew moved his laptop.

'Since when were you friendly with your neighbours?' He sounded incredulous enough that Andrew was a little offended. Was the idea of him talking to anyone really that strange?

'Since he looks after my cat. Look, I'm clearly busy, and since you're so worried about my social life, I think you should stop interrupting it and go.' He didn't give him a chance to answer, just slammed his laptop shut, ignoring Aaron's spluttering face.

'So that's your brother.'

His head whipped around to look at Neil. He hadn't heard him approach.

‘Yep. Sometimes I think I should’ve eaten him in the womb.’ He didn’t think that, of course. But it was habit to cover up just how much he cared about Aaron.

Neil saw right through him, which was getting less annoying the more it happened. ‘You’re lucky. To have family that cares about you.’

‘Family’s irrelevant.’ The way Andrew saw it, you were lucky if you had people care about you, the family part didn’t matter. The family part never meant anything.

‘True. Why do you think I love Dan and Matt and Kevin so much?’

That made Andrew pause. He’d wondered why Neil tried so hard for them. But that was barely an answer, the smallest hint, and he wanted to unlock all of Neil’s secrets so badly it burned. And the way Neil was looking at him made him wonder if that burning was obvious.

.

Not even twenty-four hours passed before Nicky called him. He knew it was almost one in the morning in Germany, so he also knew that he was not going to enjoy this.

'Who is this Neil person, and why was he in your apartment? And most importantly, is he cute? I couldn't get anything out of Aaron, as soon as I told him I knew nothing about Neil, he hung up on me.' Nicky barely paused for breath, and Andrew considered hanging up on him as well, until he remembered that it was Nicky and he'd just call back.

Yet another reason why Andrew insisted he was the older twin: Aaron was always telling on him.

He sighed, holding the phone away from him so Nicky didn't hear it. He bit down on the urge to say Neil was no one.

There was no King here to distract him; she was over at Neil’s. Neil had bribed her shamelessly with gourmet treats, and Andrew couldn’t even resent him for it.

‘Neil is my neighbour and King has adopted him. There’s no getting rid of him now.’

‘And?’

‘And what?’

‘Is he cute?’

Andrew huffed. Neil was not cute. He was _gorgeousstrikingotherworldly_. ‘I’m not doing this with you.’ He had, actually, already vented everything he might need to about Neil with Renee, during their sessions at the gym. He didn’t especially want to do it all again with Nicky.

‘Suit yourself. But, Andrew.’

‘What.’ The serious tone in Nicky’s voice was the only thing that kept him from whining.

‘I’m glad you’re reaching out to people. Friends or otherwise.’

Nicky hung up, probably enjoying the rare opportunity to get the last word, leaving Andrew alone with thoughts about what it was he wanted from Neil.

.

King was being petulant again.

Andrew may have slightly been avoiding Neil again. But that was only because he was trying to mentally prepare himself to ask him on a date. Which definitely wouldn’t be at The Foxhole. He could have asked him to Nicky’s wedding, but it was too far away. Actually, he might ask him to Nicky’s wedding, later, if things went well.

But King didn’t care about any of this inner turmoil. So she was punishing him. He understood that she was just a cat, all she wanted was Neil and Andrew’s undivided attention, but it didn’t stop him whispering, ‘Turncoat,’ at her as she leapt onto the fire escape and out of sight.

When he did get his shit together, he almost wondered if Neil had been avoiding him too.

He could usually count on the fact that Neil would be at his (new) usual table before Andrew started his Tuesday lunchtime shift.

Except he wasn't, and Andrew's insides turned into an absolute screaming mess. The whole shift he kept looking over to the window seat which was unofficially Neil's, and his new spot, which used to be Kevin’s, but he still didn’t see him. He couldn’t seem to find enough tasks to keep his hands still today.

Kevin caught him once, and rolled his eyes. 'He's probably fine. He's been obviously acting funny all week. It's when he says things are fine that you need to worry.'

'That doesn't even make sense. And what do you mean acting funny?' Andrew couldn't stop his voice pitching at the end, and Kevin just sighed and put down his pen.

'I can't believe you don't know this already, but if Neil says he's fine, he's almost definitely injured or dying.' He looked back down to the cup he was holding, then decided he wasn't finished. 'Or possibly traumatised. But, yeah. If something's obviously up, then it's probably not that bad.'

Andrew stared at Kevin. Not. That. Bad. Not that bad by Neil's standards could be anywhere from broken bones to the brink of death. But then, it was Kevin that gave that assessment. Kevin's standards were closer to normal, weren't they? It helped ease the knot in his stomach slightly; he could go one shift without knowing where Neil was.

Barely.

It was horrible, and he couldn’t stop his feet from dragging up three flights of stairs when he got home. At least he wasn’t at Eden’s tonight.

He kicked off his boots and faceplanted into his couch, surprised when King jumped onto his back.

He tried to turn over so he could use his arms, but he couldn’t do it without dislodging her, and ended up falling on the floor.

Neil knocked just in time to stop Andrew from giving in to a self-pity party.

Andrew did. Not. Run. Anywhere. But this was probably the fastest he’d ever answered his door. Neil waltzed in, as if Andrew hadn’t been missing him all day, and immediately went to give cuddles to King.

When she decided she’d had enough, he finally turned to Andrew.

‘Hey.’ He had this ridiculous beaming smile on his face, and Andrew gave a small smile in response before narrowing his eyes.

‘What are you up to?’

Neil affected a look of doe-eyed innocence, and Andrew wanted to kiss it off his face.

‘Okay, don’t be mad.’ These were usually three words guaranteed to make Andrew mad, but with Neil he somehow found himself with an unusual amount of patience. ‘I adopted a cat.’

What?

So that was where he’d been all day. ‘Why would I be mad that you adopted a cat?’

‘Well, I didn’t want you to think that I was replacing your cat, or that I didn’t want to spend time with you and King anymore, I just really thought it’d be nice if we could have another cat, so I brought one home –’

_If WE could have another cat_. Andrew’s heart lurched – what the hell was this man doing to him? It was a murder attempt, Andrew was sure of it, because he couldn’t make his brain work, couldn’t make himself breathe –

‘Can I kiss you?’

Neil stopped short. ‘What?’

‘Can I kiss you, yes or no?’ Neil was making that stupefied goldfish face again, blinking in a way that made him look like an anime character.

‘Oh. Yes.’

Andrew dove at him, and he caught Neil’s mouth while he was laughing, so it was a little awkward, with Neil doing a terrible job of holding him steady. He adjusted his angle, threaded one hand into Neil’s hair, stroking the soft curls slightly. His lips were softer than they had any right to be, so he kissed him harder out of sheer annoyance. Andrew licked the seam of Neil’s mouth, drinking in his little hitching breaths and contented noises and all he could breathe was _NeilNeilNeil_.

He shuddered when Neil’s hands slid over his shoulders, and refused to let go when Neil pulled away.

‘What was that for?’

‘Just. You. You’re ridiculous, do you know that?’

‘I’ve heard it, once or twice.’ He was smiling still, that one dimple calling to Andrew like a beacon. He didn’t have to stop himself this time, and soon he was feeling soft skin under one finger and raised scars over his knuckles. Neil let him get away with only an incredulous laugh in response.

‘And I’m the ridiculous one.’

‘Yeah. You bought a cat.’

‘Rescued a cat.’

‘You rescued a cat then.’

Neil grabbed hold of his hands and twined their fingers together. ‘I did. Is that what brought this on?’

‘Maybe. It’s also because I missed you today.’

Neil kissed him again, grinning all the while, and Andrew couldn’t get enough. Neil was the one with all the self control, apparently.

‘I really think you should come and meet our cat. Also, I might need you to help me pick out a name.’

_Our cat._ Right. They had a new cat. Andrew’s stomach swooped at the thought, and he gripped Neil’s hand a little harder. He followed Neil down the hall, thinking of all the ways he could make sure this one liked him better. He couldn’t have it wandering off into one of the other neighbours’ apartments, if this was how he reacted. Neil and their cats were all he needed right now.


End file.
